Key Swing
by GeneralUnrest
Summary: Flynn keeps overworking himself with getting the knights up to date and Yuri comes to say a word about it. They get a little caught up in checking out the knights' new equipment before really being honest with each other. [Picture/prompt fic.]


When Yuri got up high enough to see into Flynn's window he peered in for a moment. He'd thought he'd heard a lot of commotion going on through the crack and sure enough Flynn looked pretty busy within. Not worrying about it too much, he let himself in through the usual way and took a seat in the windowsill. Flynn glanced Yuri's way momentarily and went right back to what he was doing. It was difficult stopping in the middle of stacking boxes anyway.

"They finally kicking you out?" Yuri asked, eyes following Flynn idly. The knight went back to the other side of his room, starting to pick up another box off the bed, but he leaves it there to face Yuri.

"Very funny, but no. I'd requested a sample for some new equipment for the knights. It seems it was delivered here by mistake so I'm organizing it a bit before taking it where it belongs," Flynn explained with an easy-going smile on his face. Here and there a few of the boxes were open, some items laid out on his desk, others remained sealed within their boxes, but all together there were a good five or six of them. Among the items were a bit of a different helmet and a sturdier looking gauntlet; however, Yuri was not in a good position to see it all. He wasn't so sure he cared too much. It wasn't like he was knocking out knights all the time anymore.

"Maybe that's their way of saying your room is going to be a supply closet," Yuri suggested with a grin plastered over his face. Still, he couldn't help thinking you could leave it to Flynn to fix something that wasn't broken. He had a sneaking feeling those boxes were probably in fine order.

The knight let out a sigh and went back to open up the box on the bed to stir things around inside to get a better look. "Supplies aren't far down the hall. I think that would be an irrational decision to make. And I'm fairly sure one that I'd have some say in." No matter how logical he got with these things, Yuri didn't seem to care. There wasn't much Flynn could do besides attempt sometimes.

Yuri hopped out of the windowsill and to tread lightly over to Flynn's side, seeing what he had. Part of him wondered if these things really warranted unpacking and repacking. Things were tossed around a bit inside that he could tell; probably not worth all this effort though. Flynn had his way; it wasn't Yuri's business to question it too much. The man ran this whole operation somehow.

"So what'd you get? You don't really need anything serious in peace time do you?" Yuri asked while being sure to stay out of Flynn's way as he pulled things free.

"I've been seeing if I could have some denser armor made. It's a bit thin, but I don't want it to be too heavy for anyone, so we're trying a few things. Nothing is final. There's some tools here as well for daily use. I'd just like us to be a bit more efficient," Flynn said in his usual more business-like tone. It wasn't like it was a secret some of the older armor didn't take up to much. Yuri knew that one pretty personally. He'd worked out quite a few of the kinks in his time after he left the knights more so than during his short stay.

Flynn carried on after a pause. "It's a bit more efficient to build the armor better than to have to repair and replace it all the time. As far as the tools we might need...I think we're still just at the stage of trying and upgrading things."

"Not that you have that many criminals to catch or anyone to fight much these days."

At that Flynn gave Yuri one of his wider, more charming smiles. "I'm sure it's because you're off my wanted list," he replied pleasantly.

Yuri wasn't sure if he was just rubbing things in or genuinely happy. For the most part, he was suspicious. "I'd definitely still fight you if you weren't spending all your time fooling around in boxes."

"I might take you up on that. I can't afford to get out of practice and I guess you'll do as practice."

"Just practice? I was thinking about giving you a serious ass kicking."

The tension in the room picked up by quite a bit as Flynn's smile fall for a more serious look. It was enough to make Yuri grin even wider. For Commandant and leader of the knights, he was an easy guy to provoke.

Flynn opened his mouth, but stopped himself, sealing his lips. His eyes closed and very lightly he shook his head. "Maybe I'll take your challenge later. For now, there's all this to sort through. So instead of standing around and making taunts you can lend a hand." That was about as professional as he was going to be able to handle this. He had tried very hard not to just yell at Yuri anymore about this sort of thing. At least indoors.

Yuri could tell by the strain in Flynn's voice that he was itching to shout at him, but very wisely he lets that thread be cut there. At the very least he owed him a fight now, he could deal with that. When Flynn was too busy to even promise a fight later was when Yuri would worry. They could have fun later; the decision now was whether to stick his hands into this mess and try to work out the method to Flynn's madness here or get out. Yuri hung around debating just long enough for Flynn to let out a small surprised sound.

From the box he'd begun digging in again Flynn retrieved something shiny and metallic. Yuri gave it a second look and recognized they were a single pair of handcuffs, although he wasn't sure what about them warranted surprise.

"I was wondering when they would finally get around to these," Flynn said with a smile returning to his face. It seemed he was already distracted from their fight. "Some of the knights were having issues quickly detaining someone wearing a bigger gauntlet. It wasted time to have to take it off to get the handcuff to fit on properly so I wanted to see if they could be made a bit wider."

Flynn held the item up a bit more Yuri's way so he could see and sure enough it did seem wider—quite a bit wider even. He tilted his head and gave Flynn a half-interested look. "So you think this is going to work then?"

The knight stared at the item in his hand for a long time. "I guess we could find out." In a practiced motion Flynn clapped the metal onto his own armored wrist. He yanked on it and tried to slide it around, but every time it caught on the upturned edge of his armor.

Yuri wasn't so sure Flynn was the best test subject. He wasn't that big of a guy and his armor wasn't that big on him either, but it seemed like that thought must have crossed his mind as Flynn went back to digging around in the box.

"I'm guessing that's all good then?" Yuri asked, mostly just to try and get what was going through his friend's mind.

"Not quite, I asked for a bit—here!" Flynn exclaimed and brought another pair. This one did seem bigger than the last, it was planned for as well.

"You're not going to ask for the knights to carry a bunch of different sizes, are you?"

Flynn shook his head. "That would be unreasonable, I want to find one that will work the best in all scenarios." He tried to size this one by looking at his armor and the cuff, but eventually just slaps that one on his other arm. That was much easier to compare. It was looser, but it held on as well. Flynn looked fairly pleased with the result. "Time that's wasted on trying to get a criminal properly contained could lead to them breaking loose or something else making the situation worse so I thought it would be best to work out one that works for everyone."

Yuri tilted his head the other direction now, pointing at the bigger, open ring hanging off Flynn's arm. "Isn't that too big for anyone else though? Some guy's gonna slip out."

"By that you mean, _you_ could slip out?" Flynn asked for Yuri, feeling the question hidden under there.

"Yeah, of course I could but—" Yuri didn't quite get to finish as Flynn already snapped the other end of the handcuffs onto Yuri's wrist out in the open from pointing. Flynn didn't waste any time tightening the ring up as much as it could be to make sure it fit snug. If Yuri were so sure, he could try it himself.

Yuri went quiet for a moment, staring at the cuff then Flynn after. "You're way too fast at that."

"It's as though it's part of my job or something," Flynn teased back, smiling very slightly. Still, Yuri did him the favor of tugging on the ring with his free hand and trying to squirm out of it. It did seem to hold as it intended.

"I could get it off if you gave me a little while," Yuri insisted after a minute that was much too quiet for his tastes.

Flynn's smile grew wider as he chuckled. "I can wait. I need to know it works after all."

Yuri struggled, fingers grasped at the metal as he yanked, twisted and fought with it, but it didn't seem to be coming off any of the easy ways. "Alright, alright. Just get the keys already."

At that Flynn's smile fell suddenly and he paled. "Right...the keys, of course," he muttered slightly, turning and immediately starting to shovel through the same box he'd pulled these handcuffs from. The pull dragged Yuri along with him, one hand awkwardly stuck following a bit with his motion. It wasn't that much as there was a fair amount of slack.

"I think the chain is kinda long. I could definitely get out of this," Yuri claimed as Flynn kept digging around.

"Not right now, Yuri," the knight grumbled back at him, far more focused on his task. The longer Flynn spent with his arms in that box the more worried Yuri became. This did not need to take this long. It finally turns to Flynn turning the box upside down, out spilling a couple pieces of armor and some paper packed as padding. Besides that there was nothing else.

Flynn gave Yuri a wide eyed look in disbelief. "I don't know where the keys are."

There was a brief moment of silence between the two of them; like neither knew how to handle that information. It only lasted a second before they both tore off in opposite directions to try and open up different boxes. The motion pulled both their arms in the other's direction, effectively stop them both.

"Yuri, I'm looking on this side first, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Me?! I'm trying to help just as much as you are! It's your fault for going the wrong way!"

Both stepped right back up to the other, exchanging glares. "This side first. Just work with me this once," Flynn said firmly, biting back his urge to deck Yuri and yell at him together. Yuri kept up his look for a moment but did finally dissolve it and move to a box on Flynn's preferred side.

"Fine. The sooner I'm not stuck to you the better anyway," Yuri grumbled as he pried a box open one-handed. Flynn had yanked his other hand a bit out of reach to open up another box aside that one.

"We're not stuck. It's only for a moment longer." Flynn reminded himself of this a few times over. He could not afford to be stuck to Yuri Lowell for much longer than a moment. Already his mind went to all the worst places. He couldn't have meetings with Yuri there. He wouldn't be able to train any new knights properly with Yuri there being disrespectful. He could forget getting any paperwork done in his lifetime either.

While he was tossing stuff out of the way, Yuri spoke up again. "You'd be stuck in that armor all the time now instead of almost all the time." There was a slight grin on his face as he taunted Flynn a little. Panicking about all this didn't really help him find the key any faster, so he tried to cool himself off a bit.

"You wouldn't be running off to cause anymore trouble though," Flynn pointed out, his tone a bit short. He'd finished clearing out one box to move onto the one under it; dragging Yuri down with him again.

There was a disgruntled sound out of Yuri, but he shook it off. "Yeah? Maybe you'd actually slow down for a bit and actually have some fun for once."

Flynn responded with a short noise, let he'd held back a disapproving huff. "It's not like I can work with you around anyway," he muttered.

"It might be good for you to _not _be working for once."

"I'm not going to take time off because I'm chained to you."

Yuri paused in what he was doing to give Flynn a look. "I don't think anything could get you to stop then."

"Can we talk about this another time? There's no way I'm going to step outside and ask for help; we have to do this ourselves," Flynn replied, his eyes still on his work. This box was starting to look like it didn't have any keys in it either.

"When else am I going to get you to talk about it? You avoid it all the rest of the time. Or you're too busy to really talk much. When was your last day off?" Yuri pressed, stopping all together now.

Now the Commandant took his turn to stop, shooting a halting glare Yuri's way. Any one else probably would have stopped cold in their tracks, but Yuri remained with the same, casual look he'd kept. Somewhere underneath that Flynn could see a hint of concern. Briefly he wondered if anyone else would have caught that—shoving the thought away shortly after he had. "Yuri...It might be peacetime, but that doesn't mean I just get to stop and relax."

"I'm not saying slack off, just relax for a little while. I can't remember the last time I saw you _not_ working."

"And I can't remember the last time I didn't see you just relaxing," Flynn snapped back, letting out a knee-jerk response. He came to regret his temper pretty quick and Yuri sprang up. The pull forced Flynn's arm up, but he didn't hesitate to stand in front of Yuri to confront him after.

"Go ahead and think I'm just screwing around all the time. I think that it says a hell of a lot more about how much you don't know anymore than I could ever say." The look in Yuri's eyes was harder to tear away from; there was a challenge both there and in his voice.

"There's no way I could keep track of everything you're doing. That's impossible."

"You think I'm that clingy? No, I'm saying we don't even talk, Flynn. Don't be stupid."

Flynn visibly tensed, taking a step up closer to Yuri to look him further in the eye. "If it's that important to you, then why don't you come over here and stop blaming it on me?"

"I do, but you're always busy. I'll go and leave you alone if you want, but for now you're stuck with me. No one else is keeping an eye out on you and apparently you can't do it yourself."

Yuri didn't make a move when Flynn reached out to grab him by the collar, the handcuffs rattling between them. "I take care of myself just fine," Flynn said, very obviously strained at a few words as he tried not to yell at least.

"If that's what it is, then why don't you answer me about when you were last off?" Yuri remained calm, despite being able to see Flynn physically struggling to keep his reaction down, but it seemed like he couldn't even bite it back anymore.

"Yuri...Right now I'm trying to solve this problem...Let me work on one thing at a time," Flynn managed to get out, almost through his teeth at this point.

Yuri shrugged and sat himself down on top of one of the boxes, making no attempt to help anymore. "Knock yourself out then."

He wasn't sure if it was the panic getting to his brain or just Yuri himself, but everything about Yuri's reaction made Flynn's blood boil. He could only stand rummaging around for a moment longer before getting back up and decking Yuri across the face with his face. Yuri toppled back over with the boxes, hitting the floor and almost dragging Flynn down with him.

"What the hell, Flynn? I thought slacking off was all good for me!" he shouted, getting himself back on his feet by using the wall behind him as a brace with his free hand.

"You know exactly what you're doing, you ass," Flynn barked back at him, taking another swing. This one Yuri ducked under, stepping aside as well, but that movement brought Flynn stumbling a step ahead with him.

"So we're doing this right here then? Fine!" With that Yuri let it go and fought back, aiming a punch right at the blond's stomach. Flynn lost a few steps with that hit, dragging Yuri ahead with him. Their blows were clumsy and poorly planned with the way the chain between them pulled them out of their follow-ups; however, they started to get a grasp for it. Flynn would attack, Yuri would fall back and pull Flynn into an attack of his own only to have it dodged and the cycle continued.

Their fight would have gone on much longer, had Flynn not lost his footing and fallen back into the bed. The fall pulled Yuri half-way over on top of him, keeping himself braced up with one knee against the side of the mattress. The two paused there, looking the other in the eye and catching their breath. In that short moment the anger lowered and thinking straightened out.

Flynn rolled words over in his mind, eventually finding some he could get out of his mouth. Everything came out quiet, his voice low. "I know you're not slacking off...And it's been a long time...I don't have a count on days, but it's quite a few weeks. Since I took a day off that is..."

Yuri felt his expression ease and his body relax, resting more weight on the hand he had on the bed at Flynn's side. "Nobody tells you to stop?"

Flynn shook his head slightly.

"That's all I was trying to do. And well, you know, it's fine if you want to spend the off-time with me. Maybe it'd help you remember to do it. That's it..."

The knight looked a bit muddled for a moment before finally a cherry red color started to build up in his cheeks. "Maybe tomorrow then...I should sometimes..."

Yuri grinned as usual. "I'll be by to remind you tomorrow morning then...Well, if we can actually get apart today."

Flynn finds a slight smile even if he were still plenty embarrassed with himself. "I guess that's probably where we should start."

They were both about to get up when the door swung open. "Flynn! I heard you were fighting in your room so I—!" Estelle stood there, half-way through the door, her eyes wide. She couldn't even finish what she was saying; she only saw the way the room was in a wreck and then the pair on the bed. Between that and the handcuffs she began to draw all sorts of conclusions. "I'm so sorry!" she blurted finally, slamming the door shut.

The pair remained frozen on the bed mostly in shock. It took a few seconds of silence before either of them were prepared to do anything.

"I can never show my face in front of Lady Estellise ever again..." Flynn concluded, his tone cold.

"Whoa, it's just a misunderstanding. We just have to explain it to her."

"How do you plan on explaining this?!"

Yuri glanced up, looking thoughtful before turning his gaze back down on Flynn. "We had an accident testing out equipment?"

"That's not going to cut it! And would you get off me, you're making it worse," Flynn blurted back, started to sit up. As his did the fingers on his hand near his head brushed under some of the packing paper strewn out on the bed. Under that his gloves caught onto a small piece of metal. His focus went to that immediately, waving the paper off to find a set of keys. He and Yuri exchanged looks for a moment before Yuri snatched up the keys and started unlocking Flynn's hand first and them himself.

The two untangled and eventually—and a bit awkwardly—got the room back together. Things were explained to Estelle later, but Yuri decided to wait a few weeks down the road to even ask Flynn if he planned on making those handcuffs a part of the regular supply for the knights. He had a feeling the Commandant might be a little biased against them.


End file.
